170 THE SIOUAN INDIANS (etii. ann. 15 



cral'tj- toward eneink's, tiictful (lii)loiiiatists as well as brave soldiers, 

 sbrewd .strategists as well as fierce liuliters; ever they were skillful 

 readers of limiian nature, even when ruthless takers of liiunan life. 

 Anion<r some of the tribes every movement and gesture and expres- 

 sion of the male adult seems to have been aftected or controlled with 

 the view of imjiressing si)ectators and auditors, and tlirongh constant 

 schooling the warriors became most consummate actors. To the casual 

 observer, they were stoics or stupids according to the conditions of 

 observation: to many observers, they were cheats or charlatans; to 

 scientilic students, their ec(;entrically developed volition and the thau- 

 maturgy by which it was normally accompanied suggests early stages 

 in that curious development which, in the Orient, culminates in necro- 

 mancy and occultism. Unfortunately this phase of the Indian char- 

 acter (which was shared by various tribes) was little appieciated by 

 the early travelers, and little record of it remains; yet there is enough 

 to indicate the imi)()rtauce of constantly studied ceremony, or symbolic 

 conduct, among them. The development of affectation and self-control 

 among the Siouan tribesmen was undoubtedly shaped by warlike dis- 

 position, and their stoicism was displayed largely in war — as when the 

 captured warrior went exultingly to the torture, taunting and leniptiug 

 his captors to multiply their atrocities even untd his tongue was torn 

 from its roots, in order that his fortitude might be proved ; but the 

 habit was firmly fixed and found constant expression in commonplace 

 as well as in more dramatic actions. 



INDUSTRIAL AND ESTHKTIC ARTS 



Since the arts of primitive people reflect enviroumeutal conditions 

 with close fidelity, and since tlu^ Siouan Indians were distributed over 

 a vast territory varying in climate, hydrography, geology, fauna, and 

 flora, their industrial and esthetic arts can hardly be regarded as dis- 

 tinctive, and were indeed shared by other tribes of all neighboring 

 stocks. 



The best developed industries were hunting and warfare, though all 

 of the tribes subsisted in part on fruits, nuts, berries, tubers, grains, 

 and other vegetal products, largely wild, though sometimes planted 

 and even cultivated in rude firshion. The southwestern tribes, and to 

 some extent all of the prairie denizens and probably the eastern rem- 

 nant, grew maize, beans, pumpkins, melons, squashes, sunflowers, and 

 tobacco, though their agriculture seems always to have been subordi- 

 uateil to the chase. Aboriginally, they appear to have had no domes- 

 tic animals except dogs, which, according to Carver — one of the first 

 white men seen by the prairie tribes, — were kei)t for tlieir flesh, which 

 was eaten ceremonially,' and for use in the chase.- According to 



iOp.cit.,p.278. 



'Op. cit.. p. H5. Carver 8aya, "The doj^s eraployed by the Indians in hunting appear to he all of the 

 aanio species; they carry their ears erect, and yreatly resemble a wolf about th<' bead. They are 

 escecdiir^ly useful to tbeiu in their huutinii excursions aiul will attack the fiercest of the game they 

 are in inirsiiit of. They are also remarkable for their fidelity to their masters, but being ill fed by 

 them are very troublesome in their huts or tents." 



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