Indians never had a regular government, as the Saxons had. The tribes living in different parts of the country differed considerably in their language and in their customs, but in appearance and character they were singu Perhaps the differ ence between them is shown as distinctly in the kinds of houses they used as in any other way. Some of the tribes lived in holes dug in the ground, others dwelt in caves cut in the sides of rocky cliffs, but the greater part of them built weather on the shaggy skins of the buffalo or bear, in summer on beds made of the boughs of the fragrant hemlock. They used gourds or wood 35 en bowls for drinking. Some tribes served their food in rude vessels made of clay and baked in the fire. You will see how very much these ves sels resemble those made by our heathen or Saxon forefathers (see pages 215 and 216). Those tribes that lived near mighty rivers or great lakes depended for food, for the most part, upon the fish which they caught. The Indians were very skilful fishers, using both nets and traps, as also fishing lines. They built light canoes of birch bark, or hollowed out the trunks of trees to make stronger boats. They handled their, boats so dexterously that they could manage them in the swiftest currents, or guide them safely through the most dangerous rapids. Those tribes, on the other hand, that dwelt on the broad prairies or in the dense forests, where all sorts of game abounded, lived chiefly by hunting. They would track the wild animals for miles through the pathless forests, shooting them with their bows and arrows, or in a close contest despatching them with a tomahawk. They were especially fond of hunting buffaloes, which they would sometimes drive over the edge of a precipice in great numbers, just for the mere pleasure of killing them. Many of you may have found Indian arrowheads in your walks out in the country, or you may have seen them in the private collection of a friend, or in a museum. The Indian — "Made his arrow-heads of sandstone, Smoothed and sharpened at the edges, As for the bow, "From a branch of ash he made it, Tipped with flint and winged with feathers, The tomahawk was merely a hatchet, the head being made of stone, having sharp edges, and fitted with a wooden handle. The men never gave any attention to agriculture, but "sometimes the women. or squaws would raise a little patch of corn or beans, cultivated with a hoe, made perhaps of a clam-shell, or a moose's shoulder-blade, fastened to a handle." Unlike the Saxons and the Britons, most of the |