207 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



in mid air, seated in his white can- 

 oe, the melody becoming louder 

 and purer as he rose until the 

 clouds shut out the wonderful 

 sight and the melodious sounds 

 gradually becoming fainter and 

 fainter, ceased. — Mad. Co. History. 



Each Indian had his guardian, 

 Manitou, to whom he looked for 

 counsel, guidance and protection. 

 These spiritual allies, says Park- 

 am, were gained as follows: 



At the age of 14 or 15, the In- 

 dian boy blackens his face, retires 

 to some solitary spot and remains 

 for days without food. His sleep 

 is haunted by visions of different 

 objects, and the one which most 

 often appears is to be his Manitou; 

 if an eagle or a bear is in his vis- 

 ion, he is to he a warrior; a wolf is 

 the sign of a successful hunter; a 

 serpent foretells the future medi- 

 cine man. The young man then 

 returns, wearing about him some 

 part of the object of his dreams, 

 as a feather, a bone, a tuft of hair 

 or a snake skin. In modern lan- 

 guage this is knowu as his medi- 

 cine. The Indian yields to it a 

 sort of worship, propitates it with 

 offerings of tobacco, etc., thanks it 

 in prosperity and upbraids it in 

 disaster. If his medicine fails to 

 bring to him the desired success 

 he will sometimes throw it away 

 and adopt another. 



The points of the compass and 

 the winds are also Manitou. There 

 was a Summer-Maker and a Win- 

 ter-Maker, and the latter was kept 

 at bay by throwing firebrands into 

 the air. The hunter sought to 

 propitate the game he wished to 

 kill, and was often 'known to ad- 

 dress a wounded bear in a long, 

 apologetic harangue. This was al- 

 so true of fish, which were ad- 

 dressed every evening from the 

 fishing camp by one of the party 

 chosen for that purpose, who ex- 

 horted them to take courage and 

 be caught, assuring them that the 

 greatest respect would be shown 

 to their homes. This harangue, 

 which took place after the evening 

 meal, was made in solemn form; 

 while it lasted, the whole party ex- 

 cept the speaker was required to 

 lie motionless around the camp 

 fire. 



They reduced war to a science, 

 and all their movements were di- 

 rected in one system and by one 

 body. Spies were always sent 

 ahead to explore a hostile country 

 before attacking, and while in 

 camp they used the most stringent 

 methods to guard against attack. 

 No matter if they far out-number- 

 ed an opposing force, they never 



neglected the use of strategy. Al- 

 though they used horrible meas- 

 ures to torture their prisoners, re- 

 ports of such actions have been 

 grossly exaggerated. To illustrate 

 their endurance of torture, the fol- 

 lowing is printed: 



"In 1638, a party of 100 Iro- 

 quois was met in the forest by 309 

 Hurons and defeated. Among the 

 prisoners to be put to death by the 

 Hurons was a young Onayotekao- 

 no chief, who was first put to tor- 

 ture. On the scaffold where he 

 was burning he wrought himself 

 into a fury which seemed insensi- 

 ble to pain. Thinking him nearly 

 spent, his tormentors scalped him, 

 when to their amazement he leap- 

 ed up, snatched the fire brands 

 that had been the instruments of 

 his torture, and drove the screech- 

 ing crowd away from the scaffold 

 and held them all at bay, while 

 they pelted him with sticks and 

 stones and showers of live coals 

 from below. At last he made a 

 miss-step and fell through to the 

 ground, when they seized him and 

 threw him into the fire. He in- 

 stantly leaped out, covered with 

 blood and cinders, and rushed up- 

 on them with a blazing brand in 

 each hand. The crowd gave way 

 and ran toward the village as if to 

 set it on fire. They threw a pole 

 across the trail in front of him and 

 tripped him, when they all fell 

 upon him and chopped off his 

 hands and feet and again threw 

 him into the fire. He rolled him- 

 self out, and crawled forward on 

 his elbows and knees, glaring at 

 them with such unutterable fero- 

 city that they recoiled once more, 

 till, seeing that he was helpless, 

 they threw themselves upon him 

 and cut off his head." 



There were marked physical and 

 tempermental differences between 

 the various Indian tribes of s this 

 country. The Iroquois were erect 

 and commanding in figure: they 

 were reserved, deliberate and cun- 

 ning. The prairie Indians are 

 more social and excitable, and not 

 as apt to be diseased. 



The w r estern tribes, as the Paw- 

 nees, Sioux, Apaches and Nez 

 Perces and others, who subsist 

 mostly upon the results of the 

 chase, are a much better fed and 

 larger race than those who lived 

 on food raised by themselves and 

 such game as they could readily 

 shoot with the bow and arrows on 

 foot: thus the Indian who hunts on 

 horseback with a troop of tribes- 

 men around him must be a differ- 

 ent being from the solitary deer- 

 stalker who wanders about in the 



forest, dependiug upon his single 

 arm for subsistance for himself and 

 his family. 



It is arrested by good authorities 

 that had the Europeans never dis- 

 covered America, the Iroquois 

 would have conquered every tribe 

 east of the Mississippi and south 

 of the St. Lawrence. 



Of the Iroquois, the Nundawaon- 

 os, who occupied the most fertile 

 portion of the country, were the 

 leaders in cultivating the soil. 

 They had immense orchards of ap- 

 ples, pears, peaches and other 

 fruits. When General Sullivan 

 passed through their country in 

 the fall of 1779 — 100 years ago, — 

 he reported that "the Indian town 

 of Genesee, contained 128 houses, 

 mostly large and substantial. It 

 was beautifully situated, encircled 

 by a clear flat extending several 

 miles, over which fields of corn 

 were waving, together with every 

 kind of vegetable that could be 

 conceived of. The dwellings dif- 

 fered in size and shape and were 

 generally built with much labor 

 and care. They were about thirty 

 feet high and of the same area, but 

 some were much larger — 240 feet 

 long and of the same breadth and 

 height as the others. They were 

 covered with bark, overlapping 

 like shingles, and held in place by 

 small poles which were fastened to 

 the frame by strings made from a 

 tough bark. " 



With the Iroquois the main ar- 

 ticle of food was fish, and corn 

 cooked in many different ways. 

 This, cooked with beans of many 

 different colors was a highly es- 

 teemed dish. Their bread was 

 made from corn and was a daily 

 article of food. Berries and fruits 

 were sometimes dried for winter. 

 Venison was a luxury found only 

 at feasts. 



The Iroquois had five stated an- 

 nual festivals, each conducted ac- 

 cording to the special event com- 

 memorated. 



The first was held in the spring, 

 after the close of the sugar making 

 season, in gratitude of the amount 

 of sugar they had been permitted 

 to make. It was closed with danc- 

 ing, singing and games. 



The second was held immediate- 

 ly after corn planting, when thanks 

 was rendered for the favorable 

 seed time, and the Great Spirit 

 evoked to give it a healthy growth. 



The third, called the Corn 

 Dance, was held when the corn 

 was ready for use, and thanks^were 

 rendered for that valuable gift 

 which was prepared in great quan- 

 tity and in many different ways. 



