KAOE CHARACTEftlSTlCS. XXxix 



on nature, physically an<l mentally, than we are. What distinguishes th ■ 

 civilized man tVom the primitive man of our days and of prehistoric ages is 

 his greater faculty of turning to account the patent and the hidden powers 

 of nature, or the invention of handicrafts, arts, and sciences. In this the 

 savaofe man lags far behind the man of culture, and although we often have 

 to admire the ingenuity and shrewdness displayed by the American native 

 in his hunting and fi.shing implements and invictices, the art of agriculture, 

 without which there can be no real human culture, has never been pursued 

 to any considerable extent by the Indians living north of the thirtieth par- 

 allel of latitude. 



The climate of their home compels the Maklaks Indians to lead an 

 active and laborious life. Except in the coldest days of winter they are 

 almost always engaged in some outdoor work, either hunting, fishing, or 

 cutting wood, gathering vegetal food, or traveling on horseback. Pursuits 

 like these and the pure, bracing air of the highlands render their constitu- 

 tions hardy and healthy, their minds active, wide awake, and intelligent. 

 They are quick-sighted and quick in their acts, but slow in expressing de- 

 light, wonder, astonishment, or disgust at anything they se6. Often the}' 

 do not grasp the meaning of what they observe being done by the white 

 ))eople, and thus appear to us indifferent to many of the highest attainments 

 of modern culture. Children and adults are prone to reject or slow to adopt 

 the blessings of civilization, because many 'of these are of no practical use 

 to a hunting and fishing people, and others are past their understanding. 



The first things they generally adopt from the white people are the 

 citizen's dress and handy articles of manufacture, as beads, tobacco, knives, 

 guns, steel traps; also wagons and other vehicles; for when in po.ssession 

 of these last the horses, which they had obtained long before, can be put to 

 better account They are also quick in adopting English baptismal names, 

 sometimes discarding but oftener retaining their descriptive or burlesque 

 nomenclature from the Klamath language. Gradually they adopt also with 

 the money of the white man tlie elements of arithmetic, and learn to compute 

 days and months according to his calendar. After another lapse of time 

 they introduce some of the white man's laws, discard polygamy and slavery, 



