CHAPTER XXIX.
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
Decrease of the Indian Race.—Treatment of Females.—Courtship.—Stealing Wives.—Domestic Life among the Crow Indians.—“Pine Leaf.”—Female Prisoners.—Marriage.—Conjugal Relations.—Infidelity.—Polygamy.—Divorce.—Female Morality.—Intrigue and Revenge.—Decency of Outward Life.—Effects of Contact with White Men.—Traders.
The aboriginal inhabitants of the vast continent of America have been variously described by different writers, one man lauding them as models of chivalry and virtue, another decrying them as the personification of meanness and vice. Hence it is only at a recent period, comparatively speaking, that any reliable information has been obtainable on the subject. In the limited space that can be given to a consideration of the Indian and his social habits, we shall endeavor to reject both romance and vituperation. We do not believe him so stoically virtuous as the former class of writers depict, nor do we think that all of the race are so deeply sunk in depravity as the latter represent.
In addition to the authorities quoted in the progress of the chapter, we are under obligations to Mr. Horace St. John’s article on Prostitution, incorporated by Mr. Mayhew in his tracts on “London Labor and the London Poor.”
At the time of the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth, it was estimated that there were about two millions of Indians scattered over this continent. They were then a brave and hardy people, who lived on the produce of the chase, varying their locations as the facilities for hunting required. When the last census of the United States was taken, their numbers were about four hundred thousand, exclusive of fifteen thousand in Canada and the British possessions. This decrease has been ascribed to the occupation of their hunting-grounds by white men, and the consequent extermination of the game upon which they depended for subsistence; the free use of intoxicating liquors, and the introduction of small-pox and other fatal diseases. These causes will, in all probability, result in the entire extinction of the race. In the small number mentioned are many half-breeds, children of white fathers and Indian mothers.
It might naturally be supposed that in the several tribes composing this people there would exist great diversity of manners, but these are found only in minor particulars. The social institutions of the North American Indians are so generally uniform as to render it possible to sketch the whole at one view.
Their occupations are still confined to the chase and the war-path. To perform a round of daily labor, even though it insured the most ample provision for his wants, would be contrary alike to the inclination and the supposed dignity of the Red Man, who will scarcely deign to follow any pursuit which does not combine enterprise and excitement. Woman, therefore, becomes the drudge and slave; upon her devolves the duty of cultivating the ground, whenever any attempt is made to assist the spontaneous efforts of Nature; she it is who must bear the load of game which her husband has killed; must carry wood and water, build huts, and make canoes. In fishing, and in reaping their scanty harvest, the man will, at times, condescend to assist her, but otherwise all the labor falls to her share. In those tribes visited by traders, her duties are still heavier; she must join in the hunt, and afterward dress and prepare the skins and furs which are to be bartered for whisky and other luxuries. To this degraded condition the women seem perfectly reconciled, and expertness at the assigned employment is a source of pride to them.
The treatment of the female sex is generally admitted to be a standard by which man’s moral qualities can be estimated. It may be doubted if this rule would apply to the Indian tribes, for those who treat their females most mildly are by no means the most virtuous, nor is their deference attended by any increase of attachment, the general opinion of a wife’s value being the consideration of her capacity to be useful. Where they aid in procuring food or luxuries for the tribe, they are held in more esteem; while in places where the chief burden of providing rests upon the men, they are treated with severity.[335]
Even when oppressed with these laborious occupations, the women have as much native vanity in respect to decoration as the sex in any part of the world; and an accurate observer remarks that, “Judging from the time a squaw often occupies in arranging her hair, or disposing her scanty dress, or painting her round cheeks with glaring circles of vermilion, it is evident that personal ornament occupies as much of her thoughts as among fashionable women in civilized society.”[336]