North America

to the Pacific and from the extreme north to Patagonia. The aborigines were distributed principally along the coast, about the borders of lakes, and on the ma

in the great subarctic forest, and on the trackless tundras, had no p

motives of curiosity or defence, it is now known that North America, considering its vast extent, was but sparsely peopled. As to the number of the inhabitants, there is no even approximately accurate knowledge. The greatest density of pop

uropeans. The propriety of separating the American aborigines into two groups of tribes is based on the contrasts the members of these divisions present not only in colour and other physiolog

who thus designated a northern people living on the coast, and is said to mean "raw-flesh eaters." The word in use among the Eskimos to designate

he natives of the new land Indians. This mistake has led to many attempts to substitute some other word by which to designate the people referred to, but thus far non

Indians is sharply defined even at the present

ions by subsequent immigration. This last statement is not in strict accord with the conclusions reached by certain ethnologists, who claim that the use of masks, the art of carving on wood, stone, ivory, etc., the practise of tattooing, the preservation of human heads, and other customs practised by the Indians of the Pacific coast of the two Americas-and in North America, extending eastward along lines of easiest communication-suggest an influence coming from Polynesia at a time when the peoples dwelling on

of crossing broad oceans. The necessary inference from this-if the hypothesis of one place of origin for the human race is accepted-is that migration to America was by land, or at most across narrow straits. The geography of the continents must have be

borigines is thus expressed by one well qualified to speak with authority

stries, institutions, languages, and opinions; that the primordial occupancy of the continent antedates present geogra

ica are qualitative, not quantitative. The time is certainly long, probably embracing tens of centuries; but how long no one can state in years. This clai

r of the hair are the most conspicuous, but on the resultant, so to speak, of many attributes. It is, in a measure, a comparison of ideal type-examples of each variety. While each characteristic that may be chosen has individual and tribal

time to develop into a new variety. The American aborigines are different from all other varieties of the human species because each more or less isolated community or group of communities the world over has varied in its own way in accord with climatic and other conditions, and the connecting links have been lost. The d

habited by tribes having more or less well-defined territorial limits. If this population spread from one or even from several centres it is evident that a great length

s. We might reasonably expect, therefore, that a study of the languages spoken in America in pre-Columbian days would be a sure index as to the primitive stock from which the various tribes came, and show to which of the many other branches of the linguistic tree they are most closely related.

originating in a single parent language, in reality speak many languages,

re stocks which speak but one language. Four of the linguistic families referred to extend into Mexico, but to the south of the territory occupied by them other languages and dialects are spoken. Ethnologists who have studied the tribes of Mexico report 19 linguistic stocks, containing 108 distinct languages, among which there are upward of 60 dialects. In Central America a similar diversity in the native tongues exists. Reclus, in h

uccession of languages has appeared owing to the growth, differentiation, etc., of pre-existing forms of speech. It is a warrantable inference, theref

y came far antedate the birth of the oldest people of which history takes cognizance. Man must therefore have set foot on American soil

bark canoes of the Algonquins, and these again differ conspicuously from the dug-out canoes of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia; still other varieties of boats are peculiar to the more southern Indian tribes, and all alike differ from the boats used in other lands. Like individuality pertains also to the houses of the American aborigines, their clothing, arms, utensils, basket-work, picture-writings, etc. On

certained. The argument that points to a great antiquity in the case of wheat and the peach applies equally well to tobacco and maize, and indicates that horticulture began in America in remote antiquity. At the time of Columbus, the ox, sheep, goat, pigeons, fowls, cat, etc., long domesticated in the Old, were absent in the New World, and the llama, turkey, etc., indigenous in America, were unknown in Europe. These striking differences, among which there is not even a single exception, amount to positive evidence that contact between the peoples of the O

ntal activity arose mainly from the desire for food, clothing, and shelter, and from intertribal rivalry, jealousy, and war. This process of indigenous development was certainly slow. With man, as with the lower animals, the rate of advance and of specialization increases as higher and higher grades of

America as an event of the far distant past-a time so remote,

to the age of the deposits, or of the relation of the implements in question, to them, has not been presented. Certain discoveries of the bones of men and of articles of human manufacture found in California have been claimed to be of Tertiary age-that is, much older than the Glacial epoch-but more critical studies, especially by W. H. Holmes, have shown that they a

om which they came, the route followed, or the date of their arrival is to be found among the large number suggested. A continuation of the critical, ethnologic

re commonly recognised, namely, savagery, barbarism, and civilization; but the boundaries between thes

re without permanent homes, do not attempt agriculture or even horticulture, have no domesticated animals except perhaps the dog, and subsist on fish and game, including molluscs, small ma

, perhaps for winter use only, are built; clothes are made from woven cloth as well as from skins; the plaiting of baskets and the art of making coarse pottery, frequently highly decorated, are understood;

lopment in ethics, laws, social organiz

each of the planes of development designated; but those frequently classed as civilized had not arrived at an advanced stage of culture,

n of the tribes to the south of that boundary, had definite tribal organization, permanent homes at least for winter use, in part practised horticulture, and for these and other reasons are to be classed as in the barbarous stage of development. The Aztecs, Mayas, etc., of Mexico and Central America had well-established governments, built permanent and frequently large and elaborately decorated house

f implements. Under this plan of classification we have an age of stone, an age of bronze, and an age of iron. The stone age is commonly divided into two parts: an earlier or paleolithic, during which the highest type of implement used is fashioned of stone by chipping; and a later, or neolithic, when implements of stone are shaped by grinding and polishing. Fo

f development, although bronze was in use among the Incas of Peru, and to some extent had found its way northward as far as Mexico. Certain of the tribes still used implements of chipped stone, but in the

ssification is illustrated by the facts just cited, as it places the lowest savage of America in the same group as the Azte

ES

scribed in another volume of the series of which the present book forms a part, an

nsion is checked only by the absence of land on which to build their winter homes. Their present inland limit on the continent is no doubt determined in part by long-established custom and by the distribution of the animals on which they have become dependent for food, clothing, fuel, etc., but the chief control formerly, no doubt, more potent than at present, is to be sought in the aggressiveness of the Indians. In Greenland, the arctic arch

and one language current from the Atlantic to the Pacific. No other primitive people has such an extent in longitude. The reason for this peculiarity is that between the sea margin, where the Eskimo makes his ho

means of obtaining heat and light where wood is scarce-that is, the invention of the lamp. This invention, as has been shown by Walter Hugh and

near Mount St. Elias northward to the Arctic Ocean, and the latter consists of but two tribes, now intermingled, which at the time of the discovery of the Alaskan region by the Russians inhabited the western portion of the Alaskan peninsula and the Al

f the Eskimo stock, except the Aleuts and the eastern Siberian natives. It is in use at the pres

in many instances having a decided reddish tinge to the cheeks. The prevalent idea that the Eskimo is of decidedly short stature is not borne out by the various tribes in Alaska, who are not much, if any, below the average height of Europeans. Their rotund bodies and full, round faces, in which the organ answering to a nose is depressed until between the eyes it is scarcely distinguishable, suggest that the severity of the climate has led to a development of fat for protection against cold in the same mann

and whales, especially the white whale or beluga, which ascends the larger streams. To these sources of supply are added the arctic hare, caribou (reindeer), and in fact any flesh that can be obtained. Veg

ion, is derived entirely from driftwood cast on the beach by the waves. This wood, consisting in many instances of great tree trunks from which planks two or more feet wide can be hewn, is brought to the sea by rivers heading far inland, as, for example, th

d and rendered compact by stamping, thus forming a cover which serves to exclude water produced by the melting of the naturally added layer of snow. When spring-time approaches these partially subterranean winter dwellings are liable to be inundated, and are abandoned and tents used during summer seasons. Formerly these tents were made of skins of caribou or seal, but in these degenerate days cotton drilli

frequently measures some 25 by 30 feet on the sides, and is approximately 15 feet high. They are substantially made of logs or of thick planks hewn with much labour from stranded tree trunks. The roof is of logs covered with moss and earth, and has an opening in the centre for the escape of smoke from the fire kindled on a hearth in the centre of the floor. When the fire is not burning, the opening in the roof is closed with a membrane obtained from

esults so far as sanitary conditions are concerned. The Russian log-house is not unlike the many similar structures still to be seen in portions of Canada and the United States, except that the upper side of each log is hewn so as to have a sharp edge, which fits into a deep groove, cut in the log which rests on it. Moss is placed between the logs

ic stocks of india

mage to

tocks of indians north

mage to

f white men, the skins for the manufacture of parkies were derived largely by trade from the people owning domesticated reindeer in Asia. The margin of the hood is commonly made of wolf skins, the long hair of which, blowing across the face, affords much protection. Trousers and boots made of the skin of the hair-seal or moccasins shaped from the skin of the leg of a caribou completed the dress. Mats of grass are wor

occupants are sometimes made, the size of the boat also being increased. To one familiar with boat and canoe travel these light skin craft, with their water-tight decks, seem the perfection of boat construction. The occupant lashes the skirt of his kamlayka about the raised rim of the opening in which he sits and the boat is thus rendered impervious to water from whatever direction. The greatest danger is that the parchment-like covering may be ruptured, as by the cutting edge of thin ice. To ordinary stor

tance to the present time. The natives are quick to imitate the customs of the strangers who have visited them, and but for the restraint that the climatic conditions have put upon them and the high price in furs demanded by traders for imported goods the chan

ese scourges, coming from the south, have been almost as great a blight among the native peoples as would be the sweeping southward of a wave of arctic temperature to the vegetation of tropical lands. The curse of contact, resulting when a civilized race invades a land inhabited by childl

od supply is greatly decreased. Recourse to agriculture is impossible. The one redeeming feature of the white man's aggression is the introduction of the domesticated reindeer from Asia and Lapland. With reindeer, the salmon, not as yet depleted in the streams emptying into Bering Sea, the white whale, the hair-seal, not as yet of commercial value, the countless birds of summer, the berries of the tundra, etc., the Innuits can survive, maintain their manho

ka numbered 13,045. In the census of 1900 a separa

ts of Alaska, in order to indicate their status at the opening of the twentieth century, applies also with va

ily, but are more widely separated from the parent stock than any other of its constituent tribes. Evidence advanced by W. H. Dall tends to show that they are of American continental origin. At

ople, of about the average height found in civilized countries, with coarse black hair and scanty beards. Their island life, where no large game invited inland journeys, made them emphatically "canoe people." The habit of sitting in their kayaks and using the muscles of the upper portion of the body in paddling, throwing the spear, etc., while the lower portion of the body received but little exercise, led to a fine chest development and to unders

nvasion among the aborigines of the West Indies. One of the darkest chapters in American history, fortunately for the credit of Europeans now largely lost, is that containing an account of the brutal treatment the Aleuts received at the hands of the Russians. The childlike natives became worse than slaves. The debauchery of their oppressors was shameful. As stated by Dall, "the Aleuts were subjected to the most horrible outrages. The names

erly resorted each summer in countless numbers, and during its migrations traversed the passes separating the islands of the Aleutian chain, where they were easily taken; the commercial value of their skins previous to about 1867, however, was small. In addition, the land-otter and several species of foxes also inhabite

a decline in the number of pelts secured. To insure the gathering of the highly prized furs the native hunters must be maintained. The later days of Russian occupation were characterized by more humane treatment of the natives, schools were established among them, liquors withheld, and their rapid decline checked. When Alaska was purchased by the United States the Russian-American Fur Company was supplanted by the Alaskan Commercial Company, to whom a lease of the Pribilof Islands was granted. In this lease provision was made for the support and education of the Aleutians on the Pribilof Islands. As the chief and almost the sole employment open to the Aleutians during the past thirty years has been the taking of sealskins on these islands, this wise provision had a beneficent influence on the entire tribe. How faithfully the Alaskan Commercial Company carried out its contract

In

re designated by the term Indian, as already explained. There is no sharp line of demarcation between the Indians o

sure to the weather. In colour they more nearly approach that of the Polynesians than any other peoples, but in general are of a darker hue. The members of the various Indian tribes, although presenting a wide range of differences, have many physiological and mental resemblances, which, like their languages, serve to set them apart from all other peoples. A composite picture of their persons would show a man sinewy rather than heavy in build, but there are many exceptions; of average stature, 5 feet 8 or 10 inches, but there are tribes whose average is more, and others in which it is less; dark brown, with a reddish undertone, in colour; deep-set, black, and in general small eyes, their alignment straight; the nose prominent and frequently well shaped; mouth large, with strong, frequently perfect teeth; lower jaw massive; and face beardless or nearly so, and the hair of the scalp long, coarse, and black. In order to make such a sketch realistic, the bronze-like athletic figure must be clothed in a blanket worn with the grace of a Roman toga or wrapped in a robe of bison-skin; the feet encased in moccasins of tanned deerskin, and usually decorated with beads or variously colour

o one unfamiliar with the Indian an accurate idea of his personal appearance. A typical example from one tribe when critically studied is found to differ widely from

ther beings, and to regard them with contemptuous indifference. All this is true enough as seen by a stranger, but in his home life, and not infrequently when in the presence of trusted white men, the mask of indifference is laid aside and the laugh and jes

e plains in post-Columbian days when seated on his hardy pony. In current literature, however, all of these traits, as in the case of the personality of the Indian, have been fused into one ideal. It is true that the Indian hunter is more skilled in following a trail, in interpreting the signs and sounds in the forest, i

absent, and capacity to reach a certain grade in civilization is general, but beyond the acquirement of indifferent skill in the arts, literatu

liquor when once a taste for it is acquired, are plastic organisms, which reflect the conditions under which they have developed. These untutored barbarians, descendants from ancestors who brought little with them save the stone axe and the stone spear, but of necessity originated all their

lies and utensils of various sorts by one tribe from another favoured their dispersion. Although such articles as the native copper of the Lake Superior region, the red pipe-stone (catlinite) of Minnesota, and obsidian from various places found its way to remote local

ds, reptiles, fishes, crustaceans,

ulbs, seeds, fruits, nu

squashes, tomatoes, sweet potatoe

(earth in cert

, sinews, tendons, hair, wool,

bark, fibres, r

d-Cotton,

h as ochres and c

tion of houses. Anim

k, seeds; grass, ro

obe, sods, earth,

ins, sinew; oil in paint; quill

trunks, bark,

; metallic oxides

eapons. Animal Bones, horns,

rk, nuts, leaves,

ow points, knives, scrapers, etc.; various hard stones and pebbles for axes, mort

etc. Animal Skins, hair, fur, bones, hoofs, claws, teeth, ivory,

fibres for mats,

linite, etc.), clay, gold, silver, meteoric iron; an

d people, but several sources of raw materials prized by them have not been called upon by white men, and are now in greater or less measure abandoned by the natives themselves. The vast mineral wealth of the continent was almost entirely unavailing to the aborigines, except so far as native metals were discovered; while several articles, such as the camass, the seeds of grasses, insects, etc., for food and material, used for implements, as

the antelope, the former extending from the central Atlantic seaboard to the Snake River plains, and the latter from the subarctic forest to Mexico. The mammalian food supply was most abundant in the temperate belt, and while decreasing northward, declined more rapidly towards the south. The food supply furnished by fishes was plentiful wherever water was present, and in superabundance in tidal rivers and estuaries both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; but these resources fluctuated in a conspicuous way with seasonal changes, owing especially to the annual migrations of the shad and salmon. Supplementing the highly desirable fish-food on the ocean shores were the molluscs, and especially the oyster and the clam. The rivers, particularly of the Mississippi Basin, supplied fresh-water "clams" (Unios), and the saline and alkaline l

es were abundant on the Atlantic coast and extended to the Pacific mountains. Certain small plums of value for food occurred widely in what is now the United States. The papaw and persimmon thrived in the southern portion of the Atlantic coast region. The fruits of the cacti yielded refreshment in the southwestern States and in Mexico. Throughout all the hardwood forests of the Mississippi Valley and the region south of the St. Lawrence a large variety of nut-bearing trees, such as the walnut, hickory, chestnut, beechnut, oak, etc., were in great abundance and furnished a large annual food supply. In the northern portion of this region grew the maple, the saccharine sap of which was utilized by the Indians for making sugar. In the Pacific mountains south of Canada grew the p

e valleys of the Cascade Mountains he is there, together with the bears, to profit by the bounties of nature; in Nevada he still makes journeys to the pi?on groves in October; and in the subarctic forest he accompanies the migration of the caribou. In former days he followed the movements of the herds of bison on the Great plateaus. In these and many other ways the food supply of the Indian tended to establish nomadic customs, and as each source of fuel and other supplies demanded different methods of capturing animals or differen

aturally lead the Indian to develop in two important directions, namely, agriculture and architecture. As is well known, promising advances had been made in each of th

t is difficult to obtain accurate information. The writings of Spanish and other explorers who first visited various tribes have been diligently sear

cutting the bark entirely around their trunks with stone axes, and leaving them standing. A similar process was employed by white settlers in later years, and is practised even at the present day. In these partial clearings, from which the underbrush was no doubt burned, gardens of maize, melons, pumpkins, beans, gourds, sunflowers, potatoes, tobacco, and perhaps other plants were grown without irrigation. Garden-beds, as they are termed, are still to be seen in the forests of Michigan, which, as indicated by the trees growing on them, are older th

were tended and given greater facility for growth by removing adjacent plants. It is stated by some authors that in the region to the eastward of the Mississippi the Chickasaw plum is now found gro

present day, eagles are confined in cages and plucked for feathers. There is seemingly no doubt but that in pre-Columbian, as in recent years, the young of wild animals were captured by the Indians and reared as pets, which in times of necessity probably served for food; but there are no records of definite attempts to domesticate the bison, mountain-sheep, mountain-goat, or the peccary of the Gulf coast and Cen

the continent, are the arid lands, where, when once the idea of irrigation was embraced, the conditions favouring a sedentary life, with agriculture as a basis, are far more auspicious than elsewhere. The land is there treeless, the indigenous plants are easily killed by fire and by irrigation, the soil is rich, intense sunshine favours plant growth, and the gathering of harvests is not delayed or the efforts of industry rendered abortive by rain. Of all portions of the continent, this is the one where resistance to human development

ico and Central America, and the extent of their plantations, a conservative balancing of the evidence indicates that they never advanced beyond

kfoot Indians, Manitoba. Phot

were spread and secured by thongs. The typical wigwam consisted of a number of poles from 15 to 18 feet long, lashed together at the top and arranged in a circle some 10 feet in diameter at the base, on which a covering of skins, bark, or mats was spread, leaving an opening at the top for the escape of smoke from a small fire placed on the ground within. At the top a wing-like extension of the covering was fre

, like most Indian houses, was designed to accommodate a number of families, and may be said to have consisted of several houses placed end to end with a common passageway running through them. Fires were lighted in this passageway, one for each family, and the smoke allowed to escape through openings in the roof. One of these bark houses is described by an early traveller as being 80 feet long, 17 feet wide, and with a common passageway 6 feet wide running through its length, on each sid

rchitecture. As remarked by Lewis H. Morgan, one of the most judicious students of American ethnology, "the house for a single family was exceptional throughout aboriginal America, while the house large enough to accommodate seve

ntral America. In the arid southwestern portion of the continent certain tribes, termed the Pueblo Indians, are still living in the villages they occupied when first visited by Spanish explorers (1640). On account of their exclusiveness and the isolation of their villages in an imme

rmed into bricks, and also used as a mortar to unite rough stones. Although much stone was used in the construction of the pueblos, it was roughly dressed by hammering, or not changed at all from its natural condition, and regularly cut and carved stones do not occur in the buildings. The pueblos were built in successive terraces, usually either in a semicircle or on three sides of a rectangle, the open side being protected by a wall. Irregular forms are also known, the general plan being adapted to the natural condition of the site chosen. In certain instances the structures were place

the same time tenements and fortresses. A characteristic feature of these, as of practically all Indian villages, is the prese

ly and pleasingly decorated, were manufactured; cotton fabrics were woven of spun threads, and the men were armed with bows and arrows and shields; clothing was made of dressed deerskins, buffalo-robes, and cotton cloth usually dyed dark blue. The

s of the present tribes have inhabited the same territory for a great length of time. In this same general region are found the houses of the cliff-dwellers, who excavated rooms in the faces of precipices, frequently high above their bases and only accessible by means of hol

orama of Uxm

ium, C, and rising behind this is a great triple terrace, on the second level of which, at the right, is the House of the Turtles, D, and crowning the summit is the Governor's Palace, E. To the right and beyond is the serrated crest of the House of the Pigeons, F, overshadowed on the left by the massive pyramid, G, and backed

these ruins we have abundant example of buildings made of cut stone, laid in regular and even courses, united with mortar composed of burned lime and sand, and elaborately sculptured in bas-relief and in the round, or covered with designs moulded in stucco. In size and proportions these unique structures are impressive. The so-called Governor's Palace at Uxmal, Yucatan,

of Maya Arches.

form arch with acut

rdinary arch wi

dinary arch with

ch with dressed surfaces

ng slopes, showing mas

refoil, portal

corated, as may be seen by the accompanying reproduction of a photograph of a typical example. In reference to the skill displayed by the un

hammers of iron and steel are used, and the faces and contact margins are hewn with perfect precision. Though the finish of the surfaces was often secured by means of abrasion or grinding, picking or pecking were the main

of arch constructed by the awakening peoples in many lands are shown in the accompanying sketches, borrowed from Holmes's most instructive report. Columns, both square and round, were used, and statues both in bas-relief and in the round are common. The designs, whether of animals, grotesque monsters, feathers, or plants, are in strong relief, either cut in stone or moulded in stucco. These designs are not confined to single stones, but embrace several blocks, and together with the diaper fretwork extend the e

a?ade of Governor's P

ly coffered and relieved mosaic would comprise upward of 20,000 pieces, all specially cut and a large percentage elaborately sculptured. Two plain coping courses are seen at the top, followed by a twined fillet moulding, while under this is a line of very ornate snouted masks. The broad space below is filled with bold fretwork, set on a lattice ground and interrupted by the

and others, shows that the Maya people, at the time they were crushed by the more than cruel Sp

earnestly pursued by many students at the present time. The closing decade of the nineteenth century witnessed a true awakening of the white people of America to an interest in the many relics of ancient earthworks, build

tudents who are doing good work along their chosen historic, linguistic, and other branches of research. One phase of this work, particularly in reference to ancient earthworks, buildings, and also the observations of early travellers, missionaries, explorers, etc., is the removal of the incrustation of romance, and in part of fable, that has been formed about them. As shown by W. H. Holmes, in reference to many reputed finds of the relics of men in various glacial and other deposits; by W. H. Henshaw, in respect to certain animal carvings; by Cyrus Thomas, in the case of the earthwork of the eastern part of the United States; by L. H. Morgan, in connection

g some of the Eskimo tribes, and in the case also of certain Indian communities in central Alaska and northern Canada, there have been but slight modifications even in dress, utensils, etc., by reason of contact with the white man. The Pueblo Indians have been resistant to change, but although still grinding their blue corn in primitive stone hand-mills, and dressed nearly as the first Spanis

e aborigines and the whites. Although the Indians succeeded in retarding the spread of civilization, they were not strong enough to permanently check it. In the United States and Canada they have been, to a great extent, dispossessed of their hunting-grounds by so-called treaties, or by formal purchase, and placed on reservations. In Mexico the struggle is still in active progress, but there and in Central America and the West Indies the contact of the two races has in part assumed a different phase, and one less visibly detrimental to the Indian. In the countries now held by people of Spanish descent, and in fact throughout La

cations due to the widely scattered settlements of white men. No attempt has been made by the United States Government to place them on reservations, and this wi

ervations or have settled on land of their own and become self-sustaining. In the Labrador region and throughout the Rocky Mountains they still roam at will, and depend mainly on hunting and fishing for a livelihood. On the Pa

$1,309,127. The total-in part estimated-Indian population of Canada is about 99,000, and those classed as resident Indians number 77,450. The last-named during the year 1900 cultivated 108,850 acres of land; owned 83,019 head of cattle, horses, sheep, etc.; cut 68,395 tons of hay; gathered 471,596 bushels of potatoes and other root crops, besides an output of $1,639,398 worth of fish, furs, etc. Durin

o prepare the aborigines for civil government. Owing largely, also, to the efficiency of the mounted police of Canada much less trouble has been experienced in the management of the Indians of that country than has been the case in the adjacent portion of the United States. In any comparison, however, of the relation of the Canadian and United States governments to the aborigines within their respective borders account needs to be tak

be either exterminated or segregated and confined to definite regions, where they could be under military surveillance. Many treaties were made between the United States and the Indians, and by this means and by force the original occupants of the land were placed on reservations. The aim of the Government, it must be conceded, has during the past fifty years or more been humane, but in many instances treaties have been unfulfilled, and individuals in authority have proved incompetent, unfaithful, and dishonest. In judging of the dealings of the white man with the Indian, it must be remembered that the problem was highly complex and in certain ways of such a nature that no result just to each party was practicable. On one hand, the rights of the Indian to the land they inherited from their ancestors was to be recognised, but a larger interest, the march of civilization, had also to be encouraged. The good of humanity demanded that the barbarian, roaming over broad lands of which he made no use except for hunting, should give place to more enlightened people, who wished to cultivate the soil and make it support thousands of individuals, where before o

ade has been about 85,000. The food issued, usually twice a month, consists of meat, either beef or its equivalent in bacon, flour, coffee, and sugar. The ration supplied each individual is sufficient to maintain a person, or at least keep him from starving, but is not intended to meet all his wants. The desire on the part of the Government that want should compel the Indian to work, has been still further pressed by a gradual decrease in the ration issued in certain instances where definite agreement has not been made and where a tendency to self-support is manifest. In general, however, this assistance, instead of stimulati

agement, has in a large number of instances provided the Indians with tools, horses, agricultural implements, et

view of the large expenditures incurred. The sum thus employed during the past thirty-three years is about $240,000,000. The total appropriation made by the Government for the care and education of the Indians, inclusive of the aborigines of Alaska, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, was over $9,000,000. Of this sum, ov

he majority of the schools are equipped with shops for shoe- and harness-making, carpentry, blacksmithing, wagon-making, etc., and in several instances the girls are taught cooking and house-work. The largest of these schools is situated at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at whi

progress sown broadcast, the results, so far as lifting the recipients into an atmosphere of refinement and civilization and making them se

To this end land has been divided among the heads of families of several tribes and titles in severalty granted, with restrictions in most, if not all instances, in reference to the sale of the land within a certain period. In many instances this plan has been productive of good results, and the Indians have become industrious and to a lar

a prevalent system of debt, he is really held in vassalage by the owners of the large plantations or haciendas. In many ways his condition is but little better than that of a slave. Unlike the roaming tribes of the more northern portion of the continent, where the food supply fluctuates greatly with the seasons, the natives of Mexico early became sedentary, and, owing no doubt in part to the density of the population, became horticulturists, and have continued to cultivate the soil to the present day. They are now essentially agriculturists, wedded to their place of birth, and not on

s in Mexico both politically and socially. They are a disheartened race, living in a region where exuberant nature supplies their s

od are to be found. Throughout Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies amalgamation of the Indian with both Europeans and negroes has taken place, and a mixed race, consisting of a large percentage of the total population, has resulted. In Mexico these

ficance. The highest degree of culture and the greatest advance towards refinement was in Mexico and Central America, where a uniform climate prevails and bodily wants are few and easily supplied. It wa

es to be overcome are least. This is in harmony with the oft-repeated statement that the Indian is but a child. The struggle which would discourage the boy is but zest to the man. Among the Indians themselves, however, we find an exception to the rule suggested in the fact that the Iroquois or the Six Nations of New York, in their tribal organization and alliances of offence and defence probably surpassed even the Aztecs and Mayas. In physical strength a

years of French and English aggression, and to give them a fair chance to advance. One important result of the present firm control is the total cessation of intertribal warfare. Seemingly the aborigines throughout North America, with the exception-and it is hoped this is but temporary-of the Alaskan Eskimos and the still uncared-for Indian tribes of Alaska and Canada, should increase in numbers as well as in enlightenment. In reference to numbers, the enumerations that have been made in recent years, although not exact, seem to indicate a diminution in the rate of decrease, if not a positive advance. In the case of most of the Indian tribes north of Mexico the change from a free life, passe

ca in 1900, as nearly as it is now practicable

nada, Arcti

d (Labrador

es, Alaska

-

population,

. Canad

exclusive of

ates Alas

(1895)

(largely estim

-

population, a

==

al population,

f the West Indies, for the reason, so far as can be lear

ERA

titution, Washington, D. C.; the Peabody Museum of Arch?ology, Cambridge, Mass.; the American Museum of Natural History, New York, N. Y.

oks relating to the E

its Resources. Lee &

rces, etc., of Alaska. In the reports of the te

on Indian affairs published by the Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. Similar information concerning

a to other peoples is discussed, perhaps the most useful to the general reader is A.

sible are: John L. Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, 2 vols., and his Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, 2 vols., published by Harp