284 



POP0LAR FALLACIES 



[b. a. e. 



by social ties and under some central au- 

 thority, is of very uncertain application. 

 (See Chiefs.) 



Knowledge of medicine. — Many errone- 

 ous ideas of the practice of medicine 

 among the Indians are current, often fos- 

 tered by quacks who claim to have re- 

 ceived herbs and methods of practice 

 from noted Indian doctors. The medical 

 art among all Indians was rooted in sor- 

 cery ; and the prevailing idea that diseases 

 were caused by the presence or acts of 

 evil spirits, which could be removed only 

 by sorcery and incantation, controlled 

 diagnosis and treatment. This concep- 

 tion gave rise to both priest and physician. 

 Combined with it there grew up a certain 

 knowledge of and dependence upon sim- 

 ples, one important development of which 

 was what we know as the doctrine of 

 signatures, according to which, in some 

 cases, the color, shape, and markings of 

 plants are supposed to indicate the organs 

 for which in disease they are supposed to 

 be specifics. There was current in many 

 tribes, especially among the old women, 

 a rude knowledge of the therapeutic use 

 of a considerable number of plants and 

 roots, and of the sweating process, which 

 was employed with little discrimination. 

 (See Medicine and Medicine-men.) 



The Great Spirit. — Among the many 

 erroneous conceptions regarding the In- 

 dian none has taken deeper root than the 

 one which ascribes to him belief in an 

 overruling deity, the "Great Spirit." 

 Very far removed from this tremendous 

 conception of one all-powerful deity was 

 the Indian belief in a multitude of spirits 

 that dwelt in animate and inanimate ob- 

 jects, to propitiate which was the chief 

 object of his supplications and sacrifices. 

 To none of his deities did the Indian 

 ascribe moral good or evil. His religion 

 was i^ractical. The spirits were the 

 source of good or bad fortune whether on 

 the hunting path or the war trail, in the 

 pursuit of a wife or in a ball game. If 

 successful he adored, offered sacrifices, 

 and made valuable presents. If unsuc- 

 cessful he cast his manito away and of- 

 fered his faith to more powerful or more 

 friendly deities. 



In this world of spirits the Indian dwelt 

 in perpetual fear. He feared to offend 

 the spirits of the mountains, of the dark 

 wood, of the lake, of the prairie. The 

 real Indian was a different creature from 

 the joyous and untrammeled savage pic- 

 tured and envied by the poet and phi- 

 losopher. (See Mythology, Nanahozho, 

 Religion. ) 



Happy hunting ground. — If the term be 

 understood to implj^ nothing more than a 

 belief of the Indian in a future existence, 

 it answers, perhaps, as well as another. 

 That the Indian believes in a future life 

 his mortuary rites abundantly testify. It 



may be confidently stated that no tribe 

 of American Indians was without some 

 idea of a life after death, but as to its 

 exact nature and whereabouts the In- 

 dian's ideas, differing in different tribes, 

 were vague. Nor does it appear that 

 belief in a future life had any marked 

 influence on the daily life and conduct of 

 the individual. The American Indian 

 seems not to have evolved the idea of 

 hell and future punishment. 



Division of labor. — ^The position of wo- 

 man in Indian society, especially as re- 

 gards the division of labor, has been 

 misunderstood. Historians have gener- 

 ally pictured her as a drudge and slave, 

 toiling incessantly, while her indolent 

 husband idles away most of the time and 

 exists chiefly by the fruits of her labor. 

 AVhile the picture is not wholly false, it 

 is much overdrawn, chiefly because the 

 observations which suggest it were made 

 about the camp or village, in which and 

 in the neighboring fields lay the peculiar 

 province of woman's activity. In addi-- 

 tion to the nurture of children, their 

 duties were the erection and care of the 

 habitation, cooking, preparation of skins, 

 and the making of clothing, potterj', and 

 basketry, and among many tribes they 

 were expected also to help bring home 

 the spoils of the chase. Among agri- 

 cultural tribes generally tillage of the 

 fields was largely woman's work. Thus 

 her tasks were many and laborious, but 

 she had her hours for gossip and for spe- 

 cial women's games. In an Indian com- 

 munity, where the food question is always 

 a serious one, there can be no idle hands. 

 The women w^ere aided in their round of 

 tasks by the children and the old men. 

 Where slavery existed their toil was fur- 

 ther lightened by the aid of slaves, and 

 in other tribes captives were often com- 

 pelled to aid in the women's work. 



The men did all the hunting, fishing, 

 and trapping, which in savagery are al- 

 ways toilsome, frequently dangerous, and 

 not rarely fatal, especially in winter. 

 The man alone bore arms, and to him 

 belonged the chances and dangers of war. 

 The making and administration of laws, 

 the conduct of treaties, and the general 

 regulation of tribal affairs were in the 

 hands of the men, though in these fields 

 woman also had important prerogatives. 

 To men were intrusted all the important 

 ceremonies and most of the religious rites, 

 also the task of jnemorizing tribal records 

 and treaties, as well as rituals, which in- 

 volved astonishing feats of memory. The 

 chief manual labor of the men was the 

 manufacture of hunting and war imple- 

 ments, an important occupation that took 

 much time. The manufacture of canoes, 

 also, was chiefly man's work, and, indeed, 

 in some tribes the men did the skin dress- 

 ing and even made their wives' clothing. 



