756 



LAND TENURE 



[b. a. e. 



use of the war lance has l)een associated 

 with that animal, but it is evident that the 

 tribes that occupied the plains were ac- 

 quainted with the lance with a stone head 

 as a hunting implement before they en- 

 tered this vast region. A Kiowa lance in 

 the National Museum is headed with a 

 part of a sword blade and is rei:)Uted to 

 have killed IB persons. 



In accord with the tendency of objects 

 designed for especially important usage to 

 take on a religious significance, the lance 

 has become an accessory of ceremonies 

 among the Plains Indians. Elaborately 

 decorated sheaths were made for lances, 

 varying according to the society or office 

 of the owner. At home the lance was 

 leaned against the shield tripod, tied hor- 

 izontally above the tipi door, or fastened 

 lengthwise to an upright pole behind the 

 tipi. In both earlier and recent times 

 offerings of lance-heads were made to 

 springs, exquisitely formed specimens 

 having been taken from a sulphur spring 

 at Afton, Okla. 



Consult Holmes (1) in 15th Rep. B. A. 

 E., 1897, (2) in Am. Anthrop., iv, 108- 

 129, 1902; Mooney in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 

 988-990, 1896. See Arrowheads, Hvnllng, 

 Spears, War and War discipline, (w. h. ) 



Land tenure. The Indian conceived of 

 the earth as mother, and as mother she 

 provided food for her children. The 

 words in the various languages which 

 refer to the land as " mother" were used 

 only in a sacred or religious sense. In 

 this primitive and religious sense land 

 was not regarded as property; it was like 

 the air, it was something necessary to the 

 life of the race, and therefore not to be 

 appropriated by any individual or group 

 of individuals to the permanent exclusion 

 of all others. Other words referring to the 

 earth as "soil" to be used and cultivated 

 by man, mark a change in the manner of 

 living and the growth of the idea of a sec- 

 ular relation to the earth. Instead of de- 

 pending on the spontaneous products of 

 the land' the Indian began to sow seeds 

 and to care for the plants. In order to 

 do this he had to remain on the soil he 

 cultivated. Thus occupancy gradually 

 established a claim or right to possess the 

 tract from which a tribe or an individual 

 derived food. This occupancy was the 

 only land tenure recognizee! I)y thelndian; 

 he never of himself reached the concep- 

 tion of land as merchantable, this view 

 having been forced on his acceptance 

 through his relations with the white race. 

 Tecumseh claimed that the Northwest 

 Territory, occupied l)y allied tribes, be- 

 longed to the triljps in common, hence a 

 sale of land to the whites In' one tribe did 

 not convey title unless confirmed by 

 other tribes. Furthermore, among most 

 of the Algonquian tribes, at least, accord- 



ing to Dr William Jones, if land were 

 ceded to the whites, the cession could not 

 be regarded as absolute, i. e., the whites 

 could hold only to a certain depth in the 

 earth such as was needful for sustenance. 

 Each trilje had its village sites and con- 

 tiguous hunting or fishing grounds; as 

 long as the people lived on these sites 

 and regularly went to their hunting 

 grounds, they could claim them against 

 all intruders. This claim often had to be 

 maintained by battling with tribes less 

 favorably situated. The struggle over the 

 right to hunting grounds was the cause of 

 most Indian w'ars. In some tribes garden 

 spots were claimed by clans, each family 

 working on its own particular patch. In 

 other tribes the favoral)le localities were 

 preempted by individuals regardless of 

 clan relations. As long as a person ]>lant- 

 ed a certain tract the claim was not dis- 

 puted, but if its cultivation were neg- 

 lected anyone who chose might take it. 

 Among the Zuni, according to Cushing, 

 if a man, either l)efore or after marriage, 

 takes up a field of unappropriated land, it 

 belongs strictly to him, but is spoken of 

 as the property of his clan, or on his 

 death it may be cultivated by any mem- 

 ber of that clan, though preferably by 

 near relatives, but not by his wife or chil- 

 dren, who nmst be of another clan. More- 

 over, a man cultivating land at one Zuni 

 farming settlement of the tribe can not 

 give even of his own fields to a tribesman 

 belonging to another farming village un- 

 less that person should be a member of 

 his clan; nor can a man living at one vil- 

 lage take up land at another without the 

 consent of the body politic of the latter 

 settlement; and no one, whatever his 

 rank, can grant land to any member of 

 another tri I )e without consent of the Corn 

 and certain other clans. 



During the early settlement of the 

 country absolute title was vested in the 

 Crown by virtue of discovery or conquest, 

 yet the English acknowledged the In- 

 dian's right of occupancy, as is shown by 

 the purchase of these rights both liy Lord 

 Baltimore in 1635 and by William Penn 

 in 1682, although colonizing under royal 

 grants. The Puritans, however, coming 

 without royal authority, were necessitated 

 to bargain with the Indians. Absolute 

 right to the Indian lands was fully stated 

 in a proclamation by George III in 1763. 

 In 1783 the Colonial Congress forbade 

 private purchase or acceptance of lands 

 from Indians. On the adoption of the 

 Constitution the right of eminent domain 

 became vested in the United States, and 

 Congress alone had the power to extin- 

 guish the Indian's right of occupancy. 

 The ordinance of 1787, relative to all ter- 

 ritory N. w. of the Ohio, made the consent 

 of the Indians requisite to the cession of 



