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CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

THE ABORIGINES.

SECTION I.

1. WHEN men from Europe first came over the Atlantic ocean and landed on the shores of America at different places, they found inhabitants of a copper color, who could give very little account of themselves, as a people. They could not tell whether their race came from Asia, Africa, or Europe; or whether, as many of them believed, their first father and mother were created in the land which they inhabited.'

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2. These people, who were called Indians,' spoke a great variety of dialects, but there were among them only eight distinct languages. They were divided into many families, or tribes; but in color, size, moral character, religion, and government, they were very much alike. They were tall, straight, and well formed;

1. There seem to be reasons for believing that the Aborigines, or first inhabitants of America, are of Asiatic origin.

2. When Columbus discovered the first land on the American coast (verse 6, page 12), he supposed that he had reached a point of Farther India, his theory being that, sailing westward, he would find that land. He and his people, therefore, called the native inhabitants Indians.

3. Dialect is the form of expression peculiar to the people of different provinces or sections of a country where the same language is spoken. The people of London and Yorkshire have such different modes of expressing the English language, that it is difficult, sometimes, for them to understand each other.

4. These languages, which represented eight nations, who inhabited the country from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river and beyond, occupying a region embraced within about twenty-four degrees of latitude, and almost forty degrees of longitude, and covering a greater portion of the breadth of the north temperate zone, were called, respectively, ALGONQUIN, HURON-IROQUOIS, CHEROKEE, CATAWBA, UCHEE, NATCHEZ, MOBILIAN, and DACOTAH or SIOUX.

QUESTIONS.-1. What kind of people did Europeans find in America? 2. What can you tell about their name, languages, and persons ?

Dwellings, dress, money, and language of the Indians.

their eyes were black; their hair long, coarse, and straight. Sickness was very little known among them.

3. The men were employed in war, hunting, and fishing; and the women did all the labor of every kind required by family

wants. Huts made of poles covered with mats, skins of beasts, or bark of trees, were their dwelling-places, and were called wigwams. Their few tools were made of stones, shells, and bones. Their food was the meat of animals found in the forests, with fish, and a few vegetables. Maize, commonly called Indian corn, was in common use. All the simple arts of their rude life were taught to their children.

[graphic]

A WIGWAM.

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made in strings and belts, and was used in traffic, and, between nations and tribes, as tokens of affection or alliance. Wampum-belts were held by the sachems, or chief men, as records of public acts.

WAMPUM.

5. The Indians had no written language, excepting rude pic

INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS.1

ture-writings, and these were confined to the records of warlike achievements, treaties of alliance, and deeds of brave men. These were more frequently preserved in memory,

and handed down from father to son, and from chief to chief.

1. This is part of a record of a war expedition. The figures on the right and left-one with a gun, and the other with the hatchet--denote prisoners taken by a warrior. The one

QUESTIONS. 3. What can you tell about the employments, dwellings, and food of the Indians? 4. What of their clothing and money? 5. What of their writing and records?

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Warfare, women, and funeral ceremonies of the Indians.

6. War was the principal business of the men.

ally went forth in parties of
about forty. Sometimes only
half-a-dozen would go out on
the war-path, like the ancient
knights, to seek renown in
combat. Their weapons were
bows and arrows, hatchets
(tomahawks) of stone, and

They gener

[graphic]

INDIAN WEAPONS.1

scalping-knives of bone. They made prisoners, and

CALUMETS. tortured them; and the scalps of enemies were their trophies of war.' Peace was arranged by sachems in council; ' and each, smoking the same pipe of peace, called calumet, thus made a pledge of fidelity to the contract.

7. Women were the mere slaves of the men. They never engaged in any of the games, but were allowed, with their children, to be spectators of them and the war-dances. Marriage was a contract that might be broken by the husbands, who had a right to take and dismiss wives at pleasure.

8. The funeral ceremonies and methods of burial were similar among all the Indian nations. The dead body was wrapped in skins, when it was laid upon sticks in the bottom of a shallow pit; or placed in a sitting posture in a grave; or laid upon a high scaffold, out of the reach of wild beasts. Trinkets, arms, tools, paints, and food were buried with it, for they supposed the soul would need them on its journey

[graphic]

SCAFFOLD BURIAL-PLACE.

without a head and holding a bow and arrow, denotes that one was killed; and the figure with a shaded part below the cross indicates a female prisoner. Then he goes in a warcanoe, with nine companions, denoted by the paddles, after which a council is held by the chiefs of the Bear and Turtlé tribes, indicated by rude figures of these animals on each side

of a fire.

1. a, bow and arrow; b, war-club; c, an iron tomahawk; d, a stone one; e, a scalping-knife. 2. They seized an enemy by the hair, and, by a skillful use of the knife, cut and tore from the top of the head a large portion of the skin.

3. Sachems were the civil heads of nations or tribes; chiefs were military leaders.

4. Tobacco was in general use among the Indians for smoking, when the white men came. The more filthy practice of cheuring it was invented by the Europeans. The calumet was made of pipe-clay, and often ornamented with feathers.

QUESTIONS.-6. What can you tell about the warfare and weapons, and method of peacemaking of the Indians? 7. What can you tell about their women and marriages? 8. What of their funeral ceremonies and burials?

Religion of the Indians.

to the abode of spirits. They raised mounds over the graves, planted flowers upon them, and mourned there for many days.

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9. Their religion was simple in belief and ceremonies. They believed in a Great Good Spirit, and a Great Evil Spirit; and considered the sun, moon, stars, meteors, fire, water, thunder, wind, and everything which they could not control themselves, as a sort of deity or god. They also adored what they called the Great Master of Life, in different forms, whom they called Manitou, and made a sort of special deity. They had vague

QUESTIONS.-9. What can you tell about the religious belief of the Indians?

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