16 
a.nd iron became known in Europe, since the horse, the ox, and the 
sheep were domesticated, since man discovered the principle of the 
wheel, that it is hard for us to conceive of life without these things. 
Furthermore, no civilized country to-day relies entirely upon its own 
resources. Canada, for example, imports many important products 
from abroad — steel from the United States, sugar from the West 
Indies, and cloth from England; and to be cut off, as the Indians were, 
from trade with other continents, and with other parts of the same 
continent, would ujiroot the foundations of its daily life. In the first 
days of colonization even the poorest immigrants from France 
brought with them firearms to shoot the game, steel axes to build and 
furnish their log cabins, and ploughshares to break up the soil. The 
Indian had none of tliese implements at his command. What 
resources, then, did he possess that enabled him to support his family, 
and survive? 
Clearly, we must first examine the economic environment of the 
Indians. It will scarcely jirofit us, even then, to describe each sei)ar- 
ate tribe. For all the tribes had many elements in common, some 
derived, it may be, from a common heritage in the distant past, othei’S 
evolved at a later period during their residence in America before the 
dawn of history. Thus every tribe was founded on groups of families 
closely united by ties of kinship; religion was always some form of 
animism w^here protecting spirits were believed to guide maids course 
and to assist him in life’s crises; each community practised blood- 
revenge, and each marked by some rite the change from childhood to 
manhood. Rather than repeat all these for every tribe, it will be 
better to paint them in broad outline for tlie whole country, that is to 
say, to give a general sketch of the social, political, and religious life 
of the Indians considered en masse, merely noting here and there the 
more important differences. 
The languages spoken by the aborigines fall somewhat outside 
this scheme, but we may readily describe them in an introductory 
chapter which will also help the reader to remember the main tribal 
divisions. 
