CHAPTER IV 



THE ALGONQUINS OF THE NORTHWEST, 1769-1774 



BETWEEN the Ohio and the Great Lakes, di- 

 rectly north of the Appalachian confederacies 

 and separated from them by the unpeopled wilder- 

 ness now forming the States of Tennessee and Ken- 

 tucky, dwelt another set of Indian tribes, ruder in 

 life and manners than their Southern kinsmen, less 

 advanced toward civilization, but also far more war- 

 like; they depended more on the chase and fishing, 

 and much less on agriculture ; they were savages, not 

 merely barbarians ; and they were fewer in numbers 

 and scattered over wider expanse of territory. But 

 they were further advanced than the almost purely 

 nomadic tribes of horse Indians whom we afterward 

 encountered west of the Mississippi. Some of their 

 villages were permanent, at any rate for a term of 

 years, and near them they cultivated small crops of 

 corn and melons. Their usual dwelling was the con- 

 ical wigwam covered with bark, skins, or mats of 

 plaited reeds, but in some of the villages of the 

 tribes nearest the border there were regular block- 

 houses, copied from their white neighbors. They 

 went clad in skins or blankets ; the men were hunters 

 and warriors, who painted their bodies and shaved 



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