TORREYA 



Vol. 27 No. 6 



November-December 



INDIANS AND CONSERVATION OF NATIVE LIFE 

 Melvin R. Gilmore 



With regard to the indigenous fauna and flora the attitude of 

 mind respectively of white people and of Indians seems to be 

 fundamentally different. The attitude of white people generally 

 seems to be that the extinction of a species of plant or animal 

 is a matter of indifference except for the consideration of its 

 desirability for utility or for pleasure. The thought of preserva- 

 tion of the balance of nature does not sway the mind of most 

 white people. But it is the consideration which, to the. Indian 

 mind, is of prime importance. 



Most white men are unable to appreciate or to comprehend 

 the grief and pain experienced by Indians when they see the 

 native forms of life in America ruthlessly and wantonly destroyed. 

 It was not primarily the realization of economic loss, the loss 

 of a valuable source of food, which caused distress to Indians 

 when, for instance, they witnessed the destruction of wild rice 

 fields and lotus beds, but it was the sense of a fearful void in 

 nature ensuing upon the extinction of a given species where it 

 had formerly flourished. They were pained to contemplate the 

 dislocation of nature's nice balance, the destruction of world 

 symmetry. 



I have been told many times, by different persons of various 

 different tribes, of the teaching concerning the sanctity of life 

 which they received in their childhood. They tell me that they 

 were taught by their parents and elders that plants and animals 

 must not be destroyed needlessly, that wanton destruction is 

 wicked. A precept which they frequently heard was: "Do 

 not needlessly destroy the flowers on the prairie or in the woods. 

 If the flowers are plucked there will be no flower babies (seeds) ; 

 and if there be no flower babies then in time there will be no 

 people of the flower nations. And if the flower nations die out 

 of the world, then the earth will be sad. All the flower nations, 



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