Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

To the south of them are the Haidahs of Vancouver’s island, distantly related in language to the Tlinkit, and closely in the arts of life. Their elaborately carved pipes in black slate, and their intricate designs in wood, testify to their dexterity as artists. South of them are various stocks, the Tsimshian on the Nass and Skeena rivers, the Nootka on the sound of that name, the Salish, who occupy a large tract, and others.[186]

All the above are north of the line of the United States. Not far south of it are the Sahaptins, or Nez Percés, who are noteworthy for two traits, one their language, which is to some extent inflectional, with cases like the Latin, and the second, for their commercial abilities. They owned the divide between the headwaters of the Missouri and of the Columbia rivers, and from remote times carried the products of the Pacific slope—shells, beads, pipes, etc.—far down the Missouri, to barter them for articles from the Mississippi valley.

The coast of California was thickly peopled by many tribes of no linguistic affinities, most of whom have now disappeared. They offer little of interest except to the specialist, and I shall omit their enumeration in order to devote more time to the Pueblo Indians and Cliff-dwellers of New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.

These include divers tribes, Moquis, Zuñis, Acomas and others, not related in language, but upon the same plane of culture, and that one in many respects higher than any tribe I have yet named to you. They constructed large buildings (pueblos) of stone and sun-dried brick, with doors and windows supported by beams of wood; they were not only tillers of the soil, but devised extensive systems of irrigation, by which the water was conducted for miles to the fields; they were both skilful and tasteful in the manufacture of pottery and clothing; and as places of defence or retreat they erected stone towers and lodged well-squared stone dwellings on the ledges of the deep cañons, known as “cliff houses.”

4. The Mexican Group.

The nations of leading prominence in this group spoke the Aztec or Nahuatl tongue. On the arrival of Cortes, they controlled the territory from the Gulf to the Pacific, and their colonies and commerce extended far north and south. They dwelt in populous cities built of brick and stone, were diligent cultivators of the soil, made use of a phonetic system of writing, and had an ample literature preserved in books.

The physical traits of the Aztecs were nowise peculiar. Their skulls were moderately long or medium, though a few are brachycephalic, the forehead narrow, the face broad. The hair is occasionally wavy, and they present more beard than most of the other Indians. The color is from light to dark brown, the nose prominent, and the ears large. In stature they are medium or less, strongly built and muscular. Persons ill-made or deformed are rare, and among the young of both sexes graceful and symmetrical forms are not uncommon.

The governments of the various nations were based on the system of clans, gentes or totems, which was common not only in America, but in most primitive communities. Each gens had a right of representation, and the land belonged to its members, not as individuals, but as parts of the clan. The highest officer of the State was in early times elected by the chiefs of the gentes, but later the office became hereditary.

Of all the arts, that of architecture was most developed. The pyramid of Cholula compares in magnitude with the most stupendous results of human labor. It has four terraces, and its base is a square, 1500 feet on each side. Similar structures are found at Papantla, Teotihuacan, and other localities. They are built of earth, stone, and baked brick, and could only have been completed by the united and directed labor of large bodies of workmen. The cities of ancient Mexico were many in number, and contained thousands of houses. Tenochtitlan was surrounded by walls of stone, and its population must have been at least sixty thousand souls.

Of their cultivated plants the most important were maize, cotton, beans, cacao and tobacco. An intoxicating beverage, called octli, was prepared from the fermented juice of the agave, but its use was limited by stringent regulations, and repeated drunkenness was punished with death.