SOME THINGS THE INDIANS KNEW BEFORE WHITE MEN CAME
The Indians made and still make excellent canoes of bark or of logs and even of skins. The birch-bark canoe is light and very swift, and white hunters are proud of their skill in its use, but the skin boat has only strength as its merit.
The Siwash Indian of Puget Sound hollows out from a single log a fine canoe with decorated prow. He makes it secretly in the dark forest, and white men have tried for years to solve the problem of its swiftness.
The bows of strong wood bent by sinew cords and the stone-headed arrows with feather tips were excellent weapons in the Indians’ former methods of warfare and hunting, and a good arrowhead maker was famous throughout a nation.
Pueblo House with Kivas in Foreground
From a Photograph
Indian squaws were skillful in the making of buckskin suits for their braves. The handsomely embroidered moccasins were and are now good specimens of [[8]]woman’s work and love for beauty of coloring and design. Each tribe had its own pattern and shape, differing so much from those of other tribes that a footprint might announce an enemy in war time.
The Indians are still noted trappers, and their squaws know well how to tan and dress the skins of animals. Fish-hooks were made of bone or flint, and spear points were of the same materials, but they were very sharp and with them the Indians caught many fish.
Their roving habits as hunters gave them little time for house-building, and so their homes were simply tents made of strips of bark or, better yet, of large buffalo or deer hides, neatly sewed together for this purpose. These teepees and wigwams were easily put up or removed, and were a good shelter.
The Village Indians, or Pueblos of Arizona, still build themselves houses of adobe or unburnt brick. As the Pueblos were and are now less warlike than the roving tribes which live in tent-like houses, they have had time to invent many useful things.
The Pueblos weave excellent woolen blankets of gay stripes and a coarse cloth for wearing apparel. They make water-tight baskets and dishes of fiber, and these are often exchanged with the Tent Indians for dried meat and other food.
The Village Indians have for centuries planted and cared for maize, pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables. [[9]]Turkeys are raised for food, and their feather fibers are woven into cloth. Eagles are caged and raised for their long feathers, which are held sacred.
In the ruined houses of the cliff-dwellers of Texas and Arizona fragments of cloth woven from cotton and other substances have been found. No white man taught this ancient people these arts of weaving.
Clay dishes, mortars, and pestles of stone, large sea-shells cut into shapes for holding food, stone axes, and knives show some of the skill of these early Americans.
The ornaments made of silver by the Navajo, as well as the long strings of turquoise beads, are sometimes remarkable for their beauty.
Wampum, used by so many tribes for money, was carefully made from shells by eastern Indians. It seems strange that their crude tools could have made such small beads so very well.
The knowledge of medicine in all tribes was limited to a few herbs. The rest was a kind of sorcery; but with the herbs, fresh air, and fresh water they managed to cure many ills.
The Pueblos of New Mexico are very different from the Zuñis or the Moki Pueblos of Arizona. They are now much like the white people, for they live in well-built houses, attend church, and send their children to school. [[10]]