The animals of America include, among carnivora, the jaguar or American tiger, found only in S. America; the puma or American lion, found mostly in S. America; the grizzly bear of N. America, fully as powerful an animal as either; the black bear, the skunk, the racoon, the American or prairie wolf, several species of foxes, &c. The rodents are represented by the beaver, the porcupine, and squirrels of several species; the marsupials by the opossum. Among ruminants are the bison, or, as it is commonly called, the buffalo, the moose or elk, the Virginian stag, the musk-ox; and in S. America the llama (which takes the place of the camel of the Old World), the alpaca, and the vicuña. Other animals most distinctive of S. America are sloths, fitted to live only in its dense and boundless forests; ant-eaters and armadillos; monkeys with prehensile tails, in this and other respects differing from those of the Old World; the condor among the heights of the Andes, the nandu, rhea or three-toed ostrich, beautiful parrots and humming-birds. Among American reptiles are the boa-constrictor, the rattlesnake, the alligator or cayman, the iguana and other large lizards, large frogs and toads. The domestic animals of America, horses, cattle, and sheep, are of foreign origin. The electrical eel exists in the tropical waters.
The population of America consists partly of an aboriginal race or races, partly of immigrants or their descendants. The aboriginal inhabitants are the American Indians or red men, being generally of a brownish-red colour, and now forming a very small portion of the total population, especially in N. America, where the white population has almost exterminated them. These people are divided into branches, some of which have displayed a considerable aptitude for civilization. When the Europeans became acquainted with the New World, Mexico, Central America, and part of S. America were inhabited by populations which had made great advances in many things that pertain to civilized life, dwelling in large and well-built cities under a settled form of government, and practising agriculture and the mechanical arts. Ever since the discovery of America at the close of the fifteenth century Europeans of all nations have crowded into it; and the comparatively feeble native races have rapidly diminished, or lost their distinctive features by intermixtures with whites, and also with negroes brought from Africa to work as slaves. These mixed races are distinguished by a variety of names, as Mestizos, Mulattoes, Zambos, &c. In North America the white population is mainly of British origin, though to a considerable extent it also consists of Germans, Scandinavians, &c., and the descendants of such. In Central and South America the prevailing white nationality is the Spanish and Portuguese. In the extreme north are the Eskimos—a scattered and stunted race closely allied to some of the peoples of Northern Asia. That the aboriginal inhabitants of America passed over from Asia is tolerably certain, but when and from what part we do not know. The total population of the New World is estimated at 180,000,000, of which perhaps 124,000,000 are whites, 28,000,000 mixed races, 15,000,000 negroes, and 13,000,000 Indians. As regards religion, the bulk of the population of N. America is Protestant; of Central and S. America the religion is almost exclusively Roman Catholic. Several millions of the Indians are heathens.—The independent States of America are all republican in form of government, Brazil having become a republic in 1889. See North America, Central America, South America, West Indies, &c.
The merit of first opening up the American continent to modern Europe belongs to the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus, who discovered, in Oct., 1492, one of the Bahamas, and named it San Salvador. Europeans, however, had on different former occasions discovered the American coasts, and the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were visited by Northmen and named Vinland in the year 1000. Still these discoveries had no influence on the enterprise of Columbus, and cannot detract in the least from his merit; they were forgotten, and had never been made known to the inhabitants of the rest of Europe. Though Columbus was the first of his time who set foot in the New World, it has taken its name not from him, but from Amerigo Vespucci. The mainland was first seen in 1497 by Sebastian Cabot, who sailed under the patronage of Henry VII of England. For further particulars of discovery see North America and South America.
The known history of America hardly goes beyond the period of its discovery by Columbus; but it possesses many monuments of antiquity that might take us many centuries backward, could we learn anything of their origin or of those by whom they were produced. Among such antiquities are great earthworks in the form of mounds, or of raised enclosures, crowning the tops of hills, river peninsulas, &c., and no doubt serving for defence. They enclose considerable
areas, are surrounded by an exterior ditch, and by ramparts which are composed of mingled earth and stones, and are often of great extent in proportion to the area enclosed. They are always supplied either naturally or artificially with water, and give other indications of having been provided for a siege. Barrows and tumuli containing human bones, and bearing indications of having been used both as places of sepulture and as temples, are also numerous. They are in geometrical forms—circles, squares, parallelograms, &c. A mound on the plain of Cahokia in Illinois, opposite the city of St. Louis, is 700 feet long, 500 feet broad, and 90 feet high. Earth mounds of another class represent gigantic animal forms in bas-relief on the ground. One is a man with two heads, the body 50 feet long and 25 feet broad across the breast; another represents a serpent 1000 feet in length, with graceful curves. The monuments of Mexico, Central America, and Peru are of a more advanced state of civilization, approach nearer to the historical period, and make the loss of authentic information more keenly felt. Here there are numerous ruined towns with most elaborate sculptures, lofty pyramidal structures serving as temples or forts, statues, picture writing, hieroglyphics, roads, aqueducts, bridges, &c. Some remarkable prehistoric remains discovered in recent years are what are known as the abodes of the 'cliff-dwellers'. These consist of habitations constructed on terraces and in caves high up and steep sides of cañons in Colorado and other parts of the western states of N. America. Some of these buildings are several stories high. See also Mexico, Peru, &c.—Bibliography: L. Farrand, The American Nation; Prescott, The Conquest of Mexico and The Conquest of Peru; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America; F. W. Halsey, Great Epochs in American History (11 vols.).
American Indians. See Indians.
Americanism, a term, phrase, or idiom peculiar to the English language as spoken in America, and not forming part of the language as spoken in England. The following is a list of a few of the more noteworthy Americanisms, some of them being rather slangy or vulgar.
Approbate, to approve.
Around or round, about or near. To hang around is to loiter about a place.
Backwoods, the partially-cleared forest regions in the western States.
Bee, an assemblage of persons to unite their labours for the benefit of an individual or family, or to carry out a joint scheme.
Boss, an employer or superintendent of labourers, a leader.
Bug, a coleopterous insect, or what in England is called a beetle.
Buggy, a four-wheeled vehicle.
Bulldose, to; to intimidate voters.
Bunkum or buncombe, a speech made solely to please a constituency; talk for talking's sake, and in an inflated style.
Bureau, a chest of drawers, a dressing-table surmounted by a mirror.
Calculate, to suppose, to believe, to think.
Camp-meeting, a meeting held in the fields or woods for religious purposes, and where the assemblage encamps and remains several days.
Cane-brake, a thicket of canes.
Car, a carriage or wagon of a railway train. The Englishman 'travels by rail' or 'takes the train'; the American takes or goes by the cars.
Carpet-bagger, a needy political adventurer who carries all his worldly goods in a carpet-bag.
Caucus, a private meeting of the leading politicians of a party to agree upon the plans to be pursued in an approaching election.
Chalk: a long chalk means a great distance, a good deal.
Clever, good-natured, obliging.
Cocktail, a stimulating drink made of brandy or gin mixed with bitters, sugar, and water.
Corn, maize (in England it means wheat, or grain in general).
Corn-husking, or corn-shucking, an occasion on which a farmer invites his neighbours to assist him in stripping the husks from his Indian corn.
Cow-hide, a whip made of twisted strips of raw hide.
Creek, a small river or brook; not, as in England, a small arm of the sea.
Cunning, small and pretty, nice, e.g. 'It was such a cunning baby'.
Dander; to get one's dander raised, to have one's dander up, is to have been worked into a passion.
Dead-heads, people who have free admission to entertainments, or who have the use of public conveyances, or the like, free of charge.
Depot, a railway station.
Down east, in or into the New England States. A down-easter is a New Englander.
Drummer, a bagman or commercial traveller.
Dry goods, a general term for such articles as are sold by linen-drapers, haberdashers, hosiers, &c.
Dutch, the German language.—Dutchman, a German.
Fix, to; to put in order, to prepare, to adjust. To fix the hair, the table, the fire, is to dress the hair, lay the table, make up the fire.
Fixings, arrangements, dress, embellishments, luggage, furniture, garnishings of any kind.
Gerrymander, to arrange political divisions so that in an election one party may obtain an advantage over its opponent, even though the latter may possess a majority of votes in the State; from the deviser of such a scheme, named Gerry, governor of Massachusetts.
Given name, a Christian name.
Guess, to; to believe, to suppose, to think, to fancy; also used emphatically, as 'Joe, will you liquor up?' 'I guess I will.'
Gulch, a deep abrupt ravine, caused by the action of water.
Happen in, to; to happen to come in or call.
Help, a servant.
High-falutin, inflated speech, bombast.
Hoe-cake, a cake of Indian meal baked on a hoe or before the fire.
Indian summer, the short season of pleasant weather usually occurring about the middle of November.
Johnny Cake, a cake made of Indian corn meal mixed with milk or water and sometimes a little stewed pumpkin; the term is also applied to a New Englander.
Julep, a drink composed of brandy or whisky with sugar, pounded ice, and some sprigs of mint.
Log-rolling, the assembly of several parties of wood-cutters to help one of them in rolling their logs to the river after they are felled and trimmed; also employed in politics to signify a like system of mutual co-operation.
Lot, a piece or division of land, an allotment.
Lumber, timber sawed and split for use; as beams, joists, planks, staves, hoops, &c.
Lynch law, an irregular species of justice executed by the populace or a mob, without legal authority or trial.
Mail letters, to; to post letters.
Make tracks, to; to run away.
Mitten; to get the mitten is to meet with a refusal.
Mizzle, to; to abscond, or run away.
Mush, a kind of hasty-pudding.
Muss, a state of confusion.
Notions, a term applied to every variety of small-wares.
One-horse: a one-horse thing is a thing of no value or importance, a mean and trifling thing.
Picaninny, a negro child.
Pile, a quantity of money.
Planks, in a political sense, are the several principles which appertain to a party; platform is the collection of such principles.
Reckon, to; to suppose, to think.
Rock, a stone of any size; a pebble; as to throw rocks at a dog.
Scalawag, a scamp, a scapegrace.
Shanty, a mean structure such as squatters erect; a temporary hut.
Skedaddle, to; to run away; a word introduced during the civil war.
Smart, often used in the sense of considerable, a good deal, as a smart chance.
Soft sawder, flattering, coaxing talk.
Span of horses, two horses as nearly as possible alike, harnessed side by side.
Spread-eagle style, a compound of exaggeration, bombast, mixed metaphor, &c.
Store, a shop, as a book store, a grocery store.
Strike oil, to; to come upon petroleum: hence to make a lucky hit, especially financially.
Stump speech, a bombastic speech calculated to please the popular ear, such speeches in newly-settled districts being often delivered from stumps of trees.
Sun-up, sunrise.
Tall, great, fine (used by Shakespeare much in the same sense); tall talk is extravagant talk.
Ticket: to vote the straight ticket is to vote for all the men or measures your party wishes.
Truck, the small produce of gardens; truck patch, a plot in which the smaller fruits and vegetables are raised.
Ugly, ill-tempered, vicious.
Vamose, to; to run off (from the Sp. vamos, let us go).
Bibliography: T. Pickering, Vocabulary of Words and Phrases Supposed to be Peculiar to America; J. R. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms; Schele de Vere, Americanisms.
American Jute. See Abutilon.