48 The Book of Woodcraft 



In 1766, living among the Sioux, Carver writes: 



"We shall find them temperate, both in their diet and pota- 

 tions (it must be remembered that I speak of those tribes who 

 have little communication with Europeans) that they withstand 

 with unexampled patience, the attacks of hunger, or the incle- 

 mency of the seasons, and esteem the gratification of their 

 appetites but as a secondary consideration. ' (" Travels," p. 269.) 



Concerning the temperance of the Wild Indian, Catlin 

 writes, in 1832: 



"Every kind of excess is studiously avoided. 



* * * if * * * 



"Amongst the wild Indians in this country, there are no beg- 

 gars — no drunkards — and every man, from a beautiful 

 natural precept, studies to keep his body and mind in such a 

 healthy shape and condition as will, at all times, enable him to 

 use his weapons in self-defense, or struggle for the prize in their 

 manly games." (Catlin, Vol. I., p. 123.) 



And, how was it he fell from these high ideals? Alas I 

 we know too well. G. B. Grinnell has sent me a record 

 which, in one form or another, might have been made about 

 every western tribe: 



"The Reverend Moses Merrill, a missionary among the Oto 

 Indians from 1832 to the beginning of 1840, kept a diary from 

 which the f olIo\\dng account is taken : 



"'April 14, 1837. Two men from a trading expedition in the 

 Indian coimtry called on me to-day. They state that one half 

 of the furs purchased in the Indian country are obtained in 

 exchange for whiskey. They also stated that the Shiennes, a 

 tribe of Indians on the Platte River, were wholly averse to drink- 

 ing whiskey, but, five years ago — now (through the influence 

 of a trader, Captain Gant, who, by sweetening the whiskey, 

 induced them to drink the intoxicating draught), they are a 

 tribe of drunkards.'" ("Trans, and Repts. Nebraska State 

 Historical Society, IV.," p. 181.) 



